September 10th, 1971 was a Friday, and in Farmington, Maine, fifteen-year-old Judith E. Hand left Mount Blue Junior High School in the afternoon, and proceeded to walk to a relative’s house not far away for a baby-sitting job. Judith, a shy, conscientious young girl, came from a large family who had been financially struggling since her father had developed medical problems a year earlier which had prevented him from getting work as a house painter. Judith hoped that earning some money baby-sitting would be able to help out the family in a small way.
Tragically, though, Judith Hand would disappear that day less than a mile from her home, and her whereabouts would be unknown for nearly two weeks.
Though a massive search for the teenager had been ongoing since her disappearance on September 10th, on the 23rd, the hunt would come to a heartbreaking end.
Cadaver dogs located the body of Judith Hand lying on a sawdust pile in the southeast corner of a family sawmill off High Street in Farmington. The remains were extensively decomposed; the conditions in the sawmill had seemingly accelerated the process, making establishing a definite time and cause of death impossible. The sawmill lay only a few blocks from the area where Judith had last been seen alive.
The ensuing investigation yielded several false confessions and hundreds of persons of interest, but none of the leads panned out, and the case soon ground to a frustrating halt. Hopes were raised in 1988 when new information prompted the investigation to be reopened, but as of this writing, no further progress toward solving the case has been made.
Crime Immemorial 